tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85080847614909639152017-08-15T17:25:19.206-07:00in the hands of the manyJames Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-80225500113586997312016-01-11T04:31:00.001-08:002016-01-11T04:31:05.273-08:00Listen to me very carefully, I will only say this onceThe workers’ movement in the UK has faced years of defeats. Legislative and industrial change has reduced the collective bargaining power of workers through their unions to the advantage of capital. The composition of the working class has changed – there are more workers who are sole traders, and the nature of the workplace has been transformed as information-communication technology has James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-25584068328004860372016-01-06T19:15:00.001-08:002016-01-06T23:47:42.610-08:00Why won't the losers accept they lost?
Those who gained 4.5% in the Labour leadership election have been quick to defend their “colleagues” dropped from Shadow Cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn’s New Year reshuffle.
That a number of them resigned before they too were reshuffled out merely speeds up the inevitable. They lost, were offered a chance to be part of the leadership team, but could not accept the platform on which the leader wonJames Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-90212234463997431402015-11-27T16:37:00.000-08:002015-11-27T16:38:41.895-08:00Who is writing the loser script?
or: why we should remember the past so that we do not repeat it
[this is an unfinished post]
On Remembrance Sunday, I spent a lot of time thinking about my uncle. He didn't die in a war, but he served during the Falklands war between Britain and Argentina.
Patrick was in the Navy. I think he saw bad things happen in conflict, but he would never talk about it. Apparently his dad, who James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-1596640172668293732015-11-26T01:13:00.002-08:002015-11-26T01:13:47.858-08:00Meeting the Cabinet
Wednesday, November 25th saw the Tory Chancellor George Osborne deliver his Autumn Statement on the Spending Review. There was no surprise that he announced more cuts as part of his permanent austerity programme - including more cuts to local democracy.
Darlington Borough Council has had majority Labour representation through the austerity programme implemented by the Tory Chancellor. And this James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-62917584204811751992015-11-20T05:44:00.001-08:002015-11-20T05:44:17.154-08:00Building Momentum in Labour's Northern RegionOn November 11, socialists in the Labour Party gathered in Newcastle to plot the way forward in the Northern region. It was a joint event by the local Red Labour group and Momentum.The meeting was held at Tyneside Irish Centre and if anything there were too many people at the meeting - a wonderful problem to have, especially given the organisational weakness of socialists in the party in recent James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-76077986098419856282015-03-08T21:47:00.001-07:002015-03-08T21:49:16.802-07:00Warning of #Pasokification, not yearning for it
People stop me in the street and they ask me how I wrote Pasokification.
Actually, they don't.
Most people have no idea what I’m banging on about, and those that do usually tell me to shut up about it.
Obviously, I refuse.
Since Syriza’s election victory there has been greater interest in a term I’ve been trying to popularise for a few years. I welcome David’s critique and, because it James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-78790413611863257472014-03-14T19:19:00.002-07:002014-03-14T19:19:33.443-07:00A proud Digital Bennite writes
Tony Benn has gone to the great tearoom in the sky.
"As a minister, I experienced the power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government. Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes is minuscule.
"This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the IMF secured cuts in our James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-74568554810485161932013-05-06T07:20:00.001-07:002013-05-06T07:20:36.788-07:00Orwell, austerity & democratic socialism
Orwell
talk – May 1st 2013, Café Create
I want to deal with the
final years of Orwell's life, not the details of his existence, but
the significance of his literary output. I will draw out some of the
hidden politics of Orwell, positions that he takes which are slightly
contradictory and some which have relevance for today.
Orwell opposes the war
until it begins, at which point he seesJames Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-49040144651103634372012-10-25T03:48:00.001-07:002012-10-25T03:48:06.512-07:00building a future that works after #oct20
BUILDING
A FUTURE THAT WORKS
ROUND
OF INTRODUCTIONS
“Name,
occupation, affiliation”. As much as people want to say.
WHAT'S
GOIN' ON?
The
march for A Future That Works has come after two years of austerity
cuts, the March for the Alternative in London on March 26 last year,
two co-ordinated one-day strikes by public sector workers in unions
affiliated to the TUC on June 30 and James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-10392116421169879032012-10-10T06:43:00.001-07:002015-11-22T18:08:43.546-08:00A post for World Mental Health Day
The
story of (what went wrong with) my life
In which
I confess everything. Well, almost everything. Actually, not
everything. That'd take too long, and I'm not ready to talk about
some stuff.
So I'm
confessing some things which I think it's necessary to say about
myself. It's not really sin, but as Marianne Faithful sang "I
feel guilt, though I know I've done no wrong, I feel guilt". I
amJames Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-87806877440646301222012-07-13T02:08:00.001-07:002012-07-13T02:15:03.998-07:00Big meetings, martyrs, and why Lords reform mattersReform of the House of Lords isn't keeping many people from sleeping at night. Apart from David Cameron and Nick Clegg, of course. For most people, if they're kept awake by worries it's the increased cost of living, worries about the worsening economic situation on their job or business. Not that reforming the House of Lords isn't important: after all, if we don't elect politicians, then we can'tJames Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-32744579893634696442012-06-10T14:53:00.000-07:002012-06-10T14:53:02.651-07:00A ballot with your policy on it?This was recently published at Labour Left. Jon Lansman kindly commented and alerted me to an oversight on my part, and I've included my response/correction* below this:
As Labour Party members vote in internal elections, James Doran argues that Labour should dare more democracy and include a list of policy options on the next ballot in two years time.
Each week, thousands of people take part James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-39879092814687506532012-03-24T22:43:00.000-07:002012-03-24T22:43:36.074-07:00Where's all the money gone?It's not easy to answer that question. As Dan Hind says, "We have been marinading in nonsense for so long that, if someone tells you how the monetary system works, they will sound like a crank, even if what they are telling you is true."
When Occupy Darlington met on Monday 19th March in the East Hall of the Arts Centre, we tried to answer the question...
Sadly, Tony Brockley from Darlington James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-32808943843869050312012-03-01T12:59:00.000-08:002012-03-01T12:59:36.510-08:0099% LocalIn Darlington in the last few months there have been a number of interesting initiatives in response to / relevant to "the political economy of austerity":
+ Darlington Football Club is to become a Community Interest Company after a nail-biting last-minute rescue bid prevented last rites being read by the administrator. Darlington's Labour MP Jenny Chapman deserves credit for championing of the James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-47844394550415760112012-02-12T18:14:00.000-08:002012-02-12T19:17:06.320-08:0099% Powerful?Some thoughts on the protests in Western Europe and North America over the banking crisis and austerity cuts, and what this all means for those of us committed to the strengthening and extension of democracy through participation in formal politics.
the City versus the citizens, now the citizens versus the City?
Occupy London may have picked a target which cannot be easily occupied in the form James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-64610973764510902702011-09-29T16:30:00.000-07:002011-09-29T16:30:34.681-07:00Some thoughts on Labour’s co-operative future
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Preview of The Red Book, in the Blue Bar, Liverpool on September 25, 2011. This wasn't the speech I gave, but the text I was working from.
Thanks to everyone who has made the book possible – especially Eoin for being encouraging and inspiring. My intention in writing my piece was to ensure that if other coloured books James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-2165335595782106572011-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:002011-07-26T18:00:02.449-07:00Book review: Dan HindThe Return of the Public is in part a history of the concept of public opinion and democratic participation. It is also a critique of the advance of neo-liberal ideas, their implementation through state and corporate bureaucracies, and of the diminished concept of the “public service ethos” of elite institutions.
Dan Hind's proposal for media reform deserves serious consideration, especially in James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-35098628278242596542011-07-25T18:00:00.000-07:002011-08-23T08:27:13.540-07:00Book review: Owen JonesI like Owen Jones. As a media commentator he comes across well on television, radio, and in print. He “speaks human” and is able to express with clarity and humour a radical (and from this) grass-roots Labour perspective on British society. Sadly, these are exactly the qualities which have held people back in professional politics over the period that Jones describes in his new book.
Chavs: the James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-80184946822896692002011-05-19T16:30:00.000-07:002011-05-19T16:30:00.507-07:00Darlington Labour gives hope in hard timesDarlington was seen by the Tories as the council in the North East that they could win in England's local elections. Such was their effort, even the Tory Prime Minister David Cameron paid a visit to the borough. And as during the general election last year, the Tories bought billboard space to attack the Labour Party with the same inaccurate and misleading statements on public finances.
The James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-47803129117900881712011-03-27T15:53:00.000-07:002011-03-27T15:53:59.533-07:00After marching, it's time to campaign and vote for Labour's alternativeYesterday, I took part in the largest protest to take place in the UK for many years. Organised by the Trades Union Congress, the March for the Alternative called for the government to put jobs, growth, and justice at the forefront of its economic plans.
I saw tens of thousands of people - of all ages and from all parts of the country, from private sector construction workers to public sector James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-84116206942585714612011-02-13T14:44:00.000-08:002011-02-13T14:44:38.013-08:00We Love Darlington!
"We Love Darlington", an early St Valentine's event, took place yesterday in Pease Place in the centre of Darlington.
It was a great success - informing shoppers of a variety of campaigns to defend and improve quality of life in our town.
There were stalls by four "Big Society" organisations - trades council, Unison, Darlington for Culture, and the local Friends of the Earth group - James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-82223763998133520522011-01-20T23:00:00.000-08:002011-01-20T23:00:28.995-08:00There are alternatives: green growthOne Million Climate Jobs: Solutions to the economic and environmental crises is a report by the Campaign against Climate Change trade union group in conjunction with a number of trades unions (CWU, PCS, TSSA, and UCU) representing workers in communications, the civil service, transport and higher education.
Recognising that climate change results from a massive market failure, the report's James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-91049356932839661012010-11-21T15:22:00.000-08:002010-11-21T15:29:34.630-08:00A ConDem anti-cuts group?An unusual letter, by a "group" unrelated to the established Darlington against Cuts campaign, appeared in The Northern Echo on Saturday:
WHEN Jenny Chapman stood for election she told us, quite rightly, that she was a local woman who would stand up for local services. She told us that she was proud to live in Darlington and that helped her get elected.
How ironic, then, that three of the six James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-7953932655000641422010-11-18T15:35:00.000-08:002010-11-18T15:40:23.458-08:00Darlington for CultureTonight, the first Cultural Parliament took place in the Club Room of Darlington's Arts Centre. Over a hundred people were packed into the room to discuss the future of arts and culture in the borough.
A meeting at the Arts Centre on October 7 was called to discuss the situation, and a steering group was set up to develop an alternative to potential closure. The Cultural Parliament tonight was James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8508084761490963915.post-4671566870631636312010-11-14T21:39:00.000-08:002010-11-14T21:39:18.737-08:00Darlington TogetherLast Monday, I attended the first of the Talking Together events on the future of the public services that Darlington Borough Council provides. I went to get a better understanding of what the Tory/Liberal government was imposing on our council, and how people were responding.
Chris McEwan, the Cabinet member for Resources and Efficiency, delivered a presentation to open the proceedings. James Doranhttps://plus.google.com/109319796314424737323noreply@blogger.com0